Alan's 1970 Charger Restoration
- Thread starter rklewis1005
- Start date
Stopped by the shop to see progress. It's ready for blasting.
Not much big news yet.
- I'm cleaning up & replacing parts on the front & rear suspension. Lots of Evapo Rust
- Prepping to rebuild transmission & Rear Axle
- The engine is nearing completion at a local shop
- The steering column & dash are at Instrument Specialties
- The carburetor is at Custom Rebuilt Carburetors
- Steering Wheel is done and should be back next week
- Expecting Seat Upholstery soon so I can redo seats
- I'm cleaning up & replacing parts on the front & rear suspension. Lots of Evapo Rust
- Prepping to rebuild transmission & Rear Axle
- The engine is nearing completion at a local shop
- The steering column & dash are at Instrument Specialties
- The carburetor is at Custom Rebuilt Carburetors
- Steering Wheel is done and should be back next week
- Expecting Seat Upholstery soon so I can redo seats
Picked up a front suspension with torsion bars from a 68 charger for a few spare (less rusted) parts (steering knuckles and LCAs are less pitted for sure).
Cleaning up parts and acquiring the parts to rebuild.
The color of the backing plate is listed as "Phosphate," which seems to equal a medium or dark gray. Does anyone have a 70 Charger Survivor that can confirm the actual color?
I'm planning to rebuild the power steering gearbox. Primarily to replace the seals as it was working when parked 40+ years ago.
The color of the backing plate is listed as "Phosphate," which seems to equal a medium or dark gray. Does anyone have a 70 Charger Survivor that can confirm the actual color?
I'm planning to rebuild the power steering gearbox. Primarily to replace the seals as it was working when parked 40+ years ago.
I decided to ship the gearbox, pump, and pittman & idler arms off to Stear and Gear. Having it redone to "Modern" which I think I'll like better. I also shipped off the vacuum brake booster to have it restored (don't want to risk any issues).
My Legendary Auto Interiors seat upholstery arrived last week, so I'm tearing the seats apart carefully and taking lots of pictures. I have foam for the buckets, but need to order the stuff for the rear bench seats. The mice used part of it for their nests that were all over in the car.
My carburetor arrived restored from Custom Rebuilt Carburetors so I dropped it off at the engine shop. Got a couple pictures of the engine - should be dyno'd soon.
I've been cleaning up and repainting the front suspension parts. I've separated the front drums from the hubs and removed the races and bearings. Will install new and replace the drums with new. Craig at mobile parts mentioned the drums no longer have the groove for vibration dampening springs and that no one sells the springs anymore. I know a lot of people have moved to disc brakes - but anyone finding grooved drums and springs?
Lots of work still to go, but seeing progress.
My Legendary Auto Interiors seat upholstery arrived last week, so I'm tearing the seats apart carefully and taking lots of pictures. I have foam for the buckets, but need to order the stuff for the rear bench seats. The mice used part of it for their nests that were all over in the car.
My carburetor arrived restored from Custom Rebuilt Carburetors so I dropped it off at the engine shop. Got a couple pictures of the engine - should be dyno'd soon.
I've been cleaning up and repainting the front suspension parts. I've separated the front drums from the hubs and removed the races and bearings. Will install new and replace the drums with new. Craig at mobile parts mentioned the drums no longer have the groove for vibration dampening springs and that no one sells the springs anymore. I know a lot of people have moved to disc brakes - but anyone finding grooved drums and springs?
Lots of work still to go, but seeing progress.
Another update - I've been working on cleaning and painting the seat frames. The buddy seat took some extra time as 1 of the pivot bolts was stripped and the plastic covers for the "arms" that hold the top piece were cracked. I bought a 2nd buddy seat off ebay hoping for better parts. They were in a little better shape but not great. The threads on the body could be fixed or worked around, but the reamed out Hex Socket is an issue. My Dad stepped in and made shoulders to add to domed hex socket bolts on his lathe. They're not a perfect match as they need a washer to be the right diameter but they are in a lot better shape and 99% of people would never know (with and without washer in the pic with one of the originals in the middle). I also ground off the insides of the frame where the pivot bolts attach to the frame. Those punched in threads didn't stand the test of time. I welded nuts on the inside which should last a lot longer. Since they don't reproduce the foam and both buddy seats smelled like 50 year old foam (aka musty). I sprayed them with an odor killer, sprinkled them with frebreeze from one of those plug-in refills and sealed them up in a garbage bag for a week. They came out smelling much better. I'm thinking of putting a scented dryer sheet under the foam (not against the new vinyl upholstery) just to keep it from going back to the previous musty smell.
The seat frames I soaked in Evaporust and painted. The bench seat I hit with the Eastwood Rust Encapsulator just to be sure I got all the rust resolved. I'm almost ready to start the process of attaching the foam and replacing the upholstery. I want to do the buddy seat first so if I make a mistake I can replace it. It's much cheaper & faster to replace if I screw it up vs the buckets (leather & vinyl).
I completely disassembled the seat tracks and had to reform some of the bearing carriers. I stripped & painted them and bought new ball bearings to replace the old ones (a couple missing). The tracts have been stripped, primed with primer/filler and sanded. I tried to paint without sanding, but the tracks were too pitted and I didn't like the finish. Rather than replace, I primed with 4 coats of primer/filler, sanded, then repeated the process. They look better - hoping to paint them tonight. After painting, I need to press in the studs used for mounting to the floor and reassemble them this weekend
Air cleaner is cleaned and painted with the VHT Wrinkle paint.
Steering wheel came back from Charlie a while ago (don't remember if I mentioned that)
Got parts from Craig (aka Mobile parts) to do the front wheel bearings and rebuild brakes for all for 4 wheels - side tracked atm with doing the seats.
My Steering gearbox, pittman arm and idler arm all arrived today back from Steer and Gear rebuilding.
Still waiting on the finished engine and the body shop hasn't done much in over 4 weeks. It's been on a jig for 4-5 weeks. Anxious for them to get moving on the metal work, but plenty to do to have all parts ready for reassembly late summer/fall.
The seat frames I soaked in Evaporust and painted. The bench seat I hit with the Eastwood Rust Encapsulator just to be sure I got all the rust resolved. I'm almost ready to start the process of attaching the foam and replacing the upholstery. I want to do the buddy seat first so if I make a mistake I can replace it. It's much cheaper & faster to replace if I screw it up vs the buckets (leather & vinyl).
I completely disassembled the seat tracks and had to reform some of the bearing carriers. I stripped & painted them and bought new ball bearings to replace the old ones (a couple missing). The tracts have been stripped, primed with primer/filler and sanded. I tried to paint without sanding, but the tracks were too pitted and I didn't like the finish. Rather than replace, I primed with 4 coats of primer/filler, sanded, then repeated the process. They look better - hoping to paint them tonight. After painting, I need to press in the studs used for mounting to the floor and reassemble them this weekend
Air cleaner is cleaned and painted with the VHT Wrinkle paint.
Steering wheel came back from Charlie a while ago (don't remember if I mentioned that)
Got parts from Craig (aka Mobile parts) to do the front wheel bearings and rebuild brakes for all for 4 wheels - side tracked atm with doing the seats.
My Steering gearbox, pittman arm and idler arm all arrived today back from Steer and Gear rebuilding.
Still waiting on the finished engine and the body shop hasn't done much in over 4 weeks. It's been on a jig for 4-5 weeks. Anxious for them to get moving on the metal work, but plenty to do to have all parts ready for reassembly late summer/fall.
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